Agence France Presse – Iranian opposition supporters held a small but noisy protest in Brussels on Tuesday demanding sanctions against Tehran to get it to curb its nuclear plans, as a key Iranian official held talks with the EU.
"They really should impose sanctions," said Firouz Mahvi, foreign affairs official for the National Council of Resistance of Iran — a banned opposition group connected to the Iraq-based armed People’s Mujahedeen.
The rally, of about 40 people bearing banners and photographs of their exiled leader, took place outside the building where Iran’s nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani held nuclear talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Mahvi said that an international package of economic and political incentives being offered to get Iran to suspend uranium enrichment would not be enough to end the West’s standoff with Tehran.
"It’s just a waste of time," he said. "They (the Iranians) are only trying to get more concessions from the West, and these kinds of proposals will only encourage the mullahs."
Larijani called off a round of talks with Solana on July 5, due to what Iranian officials said was the possible presence in Brussels of the exiled opposition leader Maryam Rajavi.
Mahvi rejected suggestions that the protest might harm the talks going on inside. "This a democracy. You cannot shut people up," he said.
